Falling down by the numbers

For 17 days I didn’t know why I was sick, I just knew I was sick. Then a trip to the Emergency Room at Virginia Mason Hospital started the beginning of getting better.

By the numbers:
–11 hours: with a team of amazing doctors, nurses and staff in ER who found a mass attached to my ovaries/fallopian tubes
–35 beats per minute: my heart rate at certain points during my stay
–103.3 degrees: my fever due to the infection from Sepsis in my gut
–4 CT scans: attempted the first day trying to figure out what was wrong
–15 minutes: the amount of time when I was classified as unresponsive
–6.5 days: in the Critical Care Unit following the ER
–2, 4 & 24: the number of stuffed dogs I received, bouquets turned away (no flowers in CCU) and possibly the number of people who visited me that I remember
–4 to 6: the number of bags of nutrients they gave me in order to rehydrate me
–37 pounds: the number of pounds gained and lost due to bags of nutrients
–17 pounds: the number of pounds lost from one month before to one month after this ordeal
–25 pounds: the number of pounds lost in the 2.5 days after leaving the hospital
–17 days: the number of days on oxygen
–2 days: the number of days in the hospital after the ER and CCU
–7 days: the number of days of self injecting in the pick line, post hospital

–infinity: the number of people who supported me by doing my work, walking my dogs, visiting me, staying overnight post-hospital, hugging me, praying for and with me, calling me, holding my hand, caring for me, cleaning my house, buying me groceries, donating to my hospital bills, emailing me and finally telling me that all is right with their world when they saw me skating again.